new year

Sunday, September 25, 2016

I was traveling by train from Chennai to Calcutta to attend
the annual Sales Managers Conference. The train stopped at Visakapatnam
Junction. I was sitting in the First Class compartment with co-passengers.
Opposite me a lady was sitting. She was traveling alone. When the train halted,
she was idly looking out of the window. Her hand bag was at her side
unprotected.

A well dressed young man came, sat next to her and started talking
to her. The way he was talking to her we thought he was her relative. We paid
no attention to them and were busy ordering tea and snacks. I heard the young
man telling her that her relative was on the station
looking for her. So she started looking out of the window looking for her relative.

In the
meanwhile the whistle blew and the train started moving. and gradually
gathered momentum. The woman was still looking desperately out of the window for her relative.In the meanwhile, the young man
took her bag very casually, walked up to the door and jumped out of the moving
train. Although we saw this we did not suspect the young man of robbery since
we presumed he was her relative. The woman was still looking out of the window. Soon the train picked up speed and moved out of the
station.

After a while the woman stretched her hand to take bag. The bag was
not there. She turned and looked at the place where she kept the bag. Suddenly she started screaming, "my bag, my bag! Where is my bag? Did any of you see my hand
bag?" We told her that her relative took it. She started wailing, "He
is not my relative. He robbed my bag. Oh, what will I do now. I had money, my
ticket and a gold chain in that bag. What will I do now? What will I do?"
She was crying inconsolably. We tried to pacify her. On hearing the commotion,
the ticket checker came there. When he was appraised of the robbery, he advised
her to get down at the next station and register a complaint with the Railway
Police. He told us that such robberies regularly happened in the train. The robbers are
well dressed and they look like gentlemen. They are smooth talkers. It is difficult
to catch them because they commit the robbery when the train starts moving and
jump out of the speeding train with their booty.

We felt foolish and very stupid to let the robbery take place right in front of
us. When you travel by public transport be wary of strangers talking to you and
keep a close watch on your belongings.

If you have similar real life stories, I will be delighted to hear them.

About Me

Hi, my name is Joseph Thomas Pulikotil. I hope you will find my blog interesting, informative and thought provoking.Please feel free to post your comments, opinions, appreciation,improvements, suggestions or whatever you feel. I will surely visit your blog and we will be good friends.